Q&A: Nadira Isayeva on exile from Dagestan, in US

Nadira Isayeva, a 2010 CPJ
International Press Freedom Award winner, has been
living in exile since she left her native Dagestan, in Russia's volatile North
Caucasus, in November 2011. Isayeva, the editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Chernovik, had been harassed by security
forces for her relentless, critical coverage of their heavy-handed
anti-terrorism operations in the region. Yet she was hesitant to leave, unable
to imagine herself not reporting on these issues.

After
fellow human rights advocates finally convinced Isayeva to leave, she came to
New York, where she works as a fellow at Columbia University's Harriman Institute.
(The interview has been edited).

Nicole Schilit: When
did you decide you needed to leave Dagestan?

Nadira Isayeva: I decided to
leave in August, but I didn't leave Dagestan until November 20, 2011. The
fundraising, my friends began to organize in August. In November, I left and
went to Moscow, where I was hosted by my friends for two months--it was
excellent. Finally, the Harriman Institute
agreed to host me and I arrived in New York in February 2012.

NS: What
was the greatest challenge you faced when you first arrived in the United
States?

NI: It was intense but because of only one thing: the language.

I lived in my first apartment,
a dormitory. I lost it, only for one reason: I could not understand them when
they asked me about prolonging [the lease]. The person who brought me there
negotiated with them about me staying the full cycle, but toward the end of the
month, they asked me about it, and they spoke so quickly I didn't understand
they were asking me about the expiration of my lease--so I had to leave the
dormitory in two days.

But, to be honest, only
now am I recovering psychologically. And only now I really understand, I
realize that I am happy to be here. But there are many, many absurd rumors and
gossip about me--that I am a wimp, that I ran out, that I escaped from my
country--and I'm sorry about my parents, about my relatives. They look at me
sometimes, angry--not angry, they [just] don't understand me entirely. They
miss me, they're sad, and sometimes my mother says to my sister, "Why did you
show her the announcement for this job in the United States?"

NS: How
is the work you're doing from here different from the work you were doing at
home?

NI: It's another level. And I know in my native country, they are
afraid, they couldn't understand who I know, with whom I have contacts. I feel
more free now. I feel the whole world--the global world. It's another
experience, and I understand now what my friend, the human rights defender,
said: "You need to go out, you need to go abroad, because everything you could
do at your newspaper you did already." I couldn't imagine myself out of it, but
now I see I could influence [the situation at home from the United States].

NS: What advice would you give to organizations that
want to help people in similar situations to you: journalists who have to go
into exile?

NI: Try not only to help financially but to help and widen the range
of different programs to improve skills.

I'm grateful for many
reasons because I meant to stay here doing nothing, I meant only to be a lazy
person, laying on this bed, but [people] helped me, really.... I came to an unknown
environment, and the very important thing is my first time being here, things were
organized for me.

NS: What is your hope for the future?

NI: I dream of huge media.
I see the lack of media in my region. I want to see influential media--say, which
compare with the BBC, Al-Jazeera, something new--break through in my region, but
I don't see who could do that. ... CCTV, the Chinese channel in New York and
Washington, recently opened. And China is a huge empire that has money. They
have resources. And Al-Jazeera, it's another kind of example. CNN, it's an
enterprise, a profitable enterprise owned by businessmen. Strategically, who
could be interested in opening this region to the world--like Al-Jazeera opened
the far regions? [My] region is very interesting--it is very emotional territory--and
I feel there is a lack of information in the international world about it. And
this I want for my territory.

Nicole Schilit is CPJ’s Journalist Assistance Program Coordinator. She has a master's in public administration from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a bachelor's in documentary photography from Oberlin College in Ohio.

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